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Welcome to Cardinal Territory · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: What's up, Cardinals fans. I'm Katie wu here with Trevor
0:09
Speaker 1: Rosenthal and welcome to our very first episode of Cardinal Territory,
0:14
Speaker 1: part of the Foul Territory Network.
0:15
Speaker 2: This is so exciting.
0:17
Speaker 1: I've been wanting to launch a Cardinals podcast for a
0:19
Speaker 1: very long time. The fact that I have Trevor here
0:21
Speaker 1: as my co host is super exciting. Welcome Trevor, Welcome
0:25
Speaker 1: to the show, and thanks for doing this with me.
0:27
Speaker 1: It should be a lot of fun.
0:28
Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie.
0:30
Speaker 4: Yes, Cardinal Territory, this is very exciting.
0:35
Speaker 3: You know, not only to work with you, I think
0:36
Speaker 3: you do a.
0:37
Speaker 4: Great job as in covering the Saint Louis Cardinals. I've
0:40
Speaker 4: enjoyed your work the last few years. But you know,
0:43
Speaker 4: for me, the Saint Louis Cardinals Saint Louis, Missouri is
0:46
Speaker 4: a big part of who I am and being drafted
0:49
Speaker 4: by them in two thousand and nine at eighteen years
0:52
Speaker 4: old and playing in the organization for a long time,
0:54
Speaker 4: I mean the roots run pretty deep. So along with you,
0:58
Speaker 4: I'm excited to be a part of this podcast and
1:01
Speaker 4: I think we have a lot to look forward to.
1:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too.
1:05
Speaker 1: Thank you for the kind words I've enjoyed watching you pitch,
1:07
Speaker 1: so it's kind of like a two way street here
1:10
Speaker 1: for those of you who aren't familiar with us. I've
1:12
Speaker 1: been covering the Cardinals now for almost five years for
1:15
Speaker 1: the Athletic and Trevor has a resume that speaks for itself,
1:18
Speaker 1: you know, eight year veteran MLB All Star and recently
1:22
Speaker 1: just was previously the franchise hold holder for saves, so
1:28
Speaker 1: that's exciting. But then Ryan Helsley just had to beat
1:30
Speaker 1: you by one, So that was an exciting time for
1:33
Speaker 1: the Cardinals last year.
1:34
Speaker 2: Huh.
1:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was at least for me.
1:37
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm a little bit biased to the closer role,
1:40
Speaker 4: so I always enjoy seeing guys throw up triple digits
1:43
Speaker 4: and strike people out, and Helsley's really fun to watch.
1:46
Speaker 4: But you know, I think that was a little bit
1:50
Speaker 4: of a highlight in the season that the Cardinals had
1:53
Speaker 4: last year.
1:54
Speaker 3: I know, in.
1:54
Speaker 4: Twenty fifteen when I set the record, we were in
1:58
Speaker 4: the middle of a very good season. We had a
2:01
Speaker 4: very good team. So my accolade was a little bit
2:04
Speaker 4: under the radar in comparison to all the other exciting
2:08
Speaker 4: things that were happening and being a playoff team. So yeah,
2:11
Speaker 4: super happy for Ryan. And he's a good friend, a
2:14
Speaker 4: great guy, and I'm actually gonna get be able to
2:17
Speaker 4: see him here in the next few weeks once we
2:20
Speaker 4: get through the holiday up the Baseball Writers Dinner in
2:23
Speaker 4: Saint Louis, So I'm excited to spend some time with
2:26
Speaker 4: him there and be in Saint Louis.
2:28
Speaker 2: Yes, that will be a very fun event.
2:30
Speaker 1: I'm very impartial to the Baseball Writerer's Dinner, obviously, it's
2:33
Speaker 1: an event that I helped put on each year.
2:35
Speaker 2: But it's a great event.
2:37
Speaker 1: Goes to our scholarship fund to help out various students
2:41
Speaker 1: interested in sports journalism throughout Missouri. So it will be
2:43
Speaker 1: great to see both you and Hellsley there, two Cardinals
2:46
Speaker 1: relief legends. Speaking of Hellsley, it sounds like he will
2:51
Speaker 1: be in Saint Louis next year.
2:53
Speaker 2: He won't be traded.
2:54
Speaker 1: And I don't know about you, Trevor, but when the
2:55
Speaker 1: Cardinals started their off season rehaul, if you will, I
3:00
Speaker 1: thought Ryan Helsley was a surefire candidate to be traded,
3:03
Speaker 1: and I was a little surprised talking to President Baseball
3:05
Speaker 1: Operations John Mazelac coming into the winter meetings last week,
3:09
Speaker 1: and he said not so fast. You know, he was
3:11
Speaker 1: envisioning a twenty twenty five team where Brian Helsley is
3:14
Speaker 1: the closer, So that was a little different. Someone who
3:18
Speaker 1: maybe uh is going to be traded or at least
3:21
Speaker 1: they're going to try, is Nolan Ronado. So let's talk
3:24
Speaker 1: a little bit about this. Over the weekend on the Athletic,
3:30
Speaker 1: my good friend Chandler Rome wrote this, the Astros emerged
3:35
Speaker 1: as a serious suitor for Nolan Arronado. That's up on
3:39
Speaker 1: the Athletic, And I think when we've talked about Nolan
3:42
Speaker 1: Ronado over the past couple of months, it's just been
3:45
Speaker 1: this big question of are the Cardinals going to trade him?
3:48
Speaker 2: Are not? And it seems like they definitely are now.
3:51
Speaker 1: So what is your take on the Arnaudo situation and
3:54
Speaker 1: where do you think he's going to end up.
3:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm interested to kind of dig in a little
3:59
Speaker 4: bit deeper and hear your point of view. But for me,
4:04
Speaker 4: it seems to make obvious sense in being in Houston
4:07
Speaker 4: and Houston being a potential fit with losing a guy
4:11
Speaker 4: like Bregman, and it seems to be that they haven't
4:14
Speaker 4: made much progress with extension talks with Bregman so far,
4:18
Speaker 4: and you know, as we get closer and closer to
4:20
Speaker 4: the season starting, they're going to have to make a
4:22
Speaker 4: decision one way or another. And with Saint Louis obviously
4:27
Speaker 4: being vocal about the willingness to shop Aeronauto, I think
4:31
Speaker 4: that's where Houston comes into the fold. But I don't know, Katy,
4:35
Speaker 4: I'm interested to hear. What are your thoughts on this
4:38
Speaker 4: so far.
4:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a complicated matter, right, you know, when you're
4:42
Speaker 1: looking at it from the beat writer perspective, it just
4:44
Speaker 1: seems unfortunate for both parties that were in this situation.
4:48
Speaker 1: Right when Arnauto opted in in twenty twenty two, at
4:50
Speaker 1: the end of that season, he was, you know, committed
4:53
Speaker 1: to Saint Louis and the Cardinals were committed to winning
4:56
Speaker 1: throughout the duration of his contract, or at least they.
4:58
Speaker 2: Were at the time.
4:59
Speaker 1: But the last two years have sent the Saint Louis
5:02
Speaker 1: Cardinals into such disarray that things have obviously changed for
5:05
Speaker 1: both the organization and the player. Since he decided to
5:08
Speaker 1: opt in at that time, he had five years remaining
5:10
Speaker 1: on that contract. Now he has three. So when you
5:14
Speaker 1: think about it from Nolan's perspective. You know, he didn't
5:16
Speaker 1: demand to be traded right this. He didn't go up
5:18
Speaker 1: to Mo at the end of the season and say
5:20
Speaker 1: get me out of here. Mo actually came up to
5:22
Speaker 1: him their second to last series of the year in
5:24
Speaker 1: Colorado and said, Hey, here's the direction we're going. We're
5:28
Speaker 1: taking a step back in twenty twenty five. We're gonna
5:31
Speaker 1: let the you know, we're going to see what our
5:32
Speaker 1: youth can do. We're going to emphasize the next core
5:35
Speaker 1: wins might come as a sacrifice to that. Are you in?
5:39
Speaker 1: And Nolan essentially granted permission for Moe to go.
5:41
Speaker 2: Around and see if there was interest.
5:43
Speaker 1: Now as we are halfway through the off season, there
5:46
Speaker 1: is obviously plenty of interest for Nolan Arnado. It's just
5:49
Speaker 1: a matter of if they can find the right fit.
5:51
Speaker 1: So I thought it was so interesting when Chandler reported
5:54
Speaker 1: that the Astros came up as serious suitors, because you know,
5:57
Speaker 1: it could be a place where it's a fit. What
6:00
Speaker 1: I think fans need to realize or try to understand,
6:04
Speaker 1: is that this is not a decision that anyone's taking lightly.
6:07
Speaker 2: Right.
6:07
Speaker 1: I'm sure the Cardinals want to move Nolan. They want
6:09
Speaker 1: to know what they have, or at least, you know,
6:11
Speaker 1: have some clarity down his market. But I think Nolan
6:13
Speaker 1: is sitting here saying, hey, you know, I'm going to
6:15
Speaker 1: be thirty four next year. I'm not sure this is
6:18
Speaker 1: probably going to be the last time I have a
6:20
Speaker 1: say in my future. I can see, and this is
6:23
Speaker 1: just my speculation. I can see him joining out this
6:25
Speaker 1: decision to make sure he gets it right. If the
6:28
Speaker 1: Ashros are one of many teams, you know, I've heard
6:30
Speaker 1: the Yankees have been circulating some interest. Maybe the Red
6:32
Speaker 1: Sox are a fit. Definitely some middle market teams as well.
6:35
Speaker 1: But we know what the priority is for Nolan right now.
6:38
Speaker 1: It's a place that's winning now and a place that's
6:40
Speaker 1: built to win for the rest of his career. Is
6:43
Speaker 1: that the Astros, Is that the Red Sox, Is that
6:45
Speaker 1: the Yankees? We don't know, But I think it's important
6:48
Speaker 1: for us to all realize, like, this is a major
6:49
Speaker 1: decision for him and he might not be necessarily rushing
6:52
Speaker 1: to it.
6:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, he seems.
6:55
Speaker 2: You know.
6:55
Speaker 4: I'm a big Nolan Aernauda fan. We came up together
6:58
Speaker 4: through the minor leagues. I was able to watch him
7:01
Speaker 4: as a player evolve over the years, and he's always
7:04
Speaker 4: been an incredible talent. But like you said, at this
7:06
Speaker 4: point in his career, he has an opportunity to really
7:10
Speaker 4: kind of put the bow on on a on a
7:13
Speaker 4: legacy that he's gonna leave in the game.
7:15
Speaker 3: And and so I agree with you.
7:18
Speaker 4: You know, taking time and making sure that it's the
7:20
Speaker 4: right fit for him and his family and and his
7:23
Speaker 4: aspirations to to in the game is really important.
7:27
Speaker 3: But all of those places.
7:29
Speaker 4: That you mentioned have a need in in their teams
7:31
Speaker 4: that I think he would he would fill in nicely
7:34
Speaker 4: and provide a lot of values. So I mean, and
7:38
Speaker 4: to add on to that, and speaking about Ryan Helsley,
7:41
Speaker 4: I agree with you on that subject as well. Where
7:45
Speaker 4: you look at a player like Ryan Helsley, you look
7:47
Speaker 4: at the Cardinals plans heading into this season, and I
7:50
Speaker 4: would have imagined he would have been right up there
7:52
Speaker 4: as a potential trade candidate early in this offseason as well.
7:57
Speaker 4: So a lot to a lot to see what happens,
8:00
Speaker 4: I guess over this holiday season.
8:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a very unpredictable off season. I should
8:06
Speaker 1: have known it was going to be a little crazy
8:08
Speaker 1: when the Cardinals started off the general manager meetings in
8:11
Speaker 1: November with the little surprise announcement that Wilson Contro's was
8:14
Speaker 1: moving to first base, And I remember Mo was just
8:17
Speaker 1: so nonchalantly talking to a couple of reporters and he said, oh,
8:21
Speaker 1: you know, you guys have probably heard this by now,
8:22
Speaker 1: but Contreras's will be our first baseman next year. And
8:26
Speaker 1: we're all quiet, like, what, we didn't actually hear that.
8:29
Speaker 1: I like when he does that sometimes it just is
8:31
Speaker 1: very humbling when clearly everybody but us knows what's going on.
8:34
Speaker 2: That's wonderful to know.
8:36
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, when the Cardinals first announced their
8:40
Speaker 1: plan to retool, I was so unsure of what that
8:43
Speaker 1: was going to look like because you had so many
8:44
Speaker 1: veterans Contreras, Sunny Gray, Miles, Michaelis, Nolan Arnatto, and all
8:49
Speaker 1: of these veterans either were traded here or signed a
8:52
Speaker 1: free agent contract under the premise that the Cardinals were
8:55
Speaker 1: going to win or at least compete to.
8:57
Speaker 2: Win for multiple seasons.
8:59
Speaker 1: And I thought the way Mo handled it with each
9:01
Speaker 1: of that veterans, each of those veterans was smart. You know,
9:04
Speaker 1: he essentially had the same conversation with all of them
9:07
Speaker 1: that he did with Nolan and Sunny Gray expressed a
9:09
Speaker 1: preference to stay.
9:10
Speaker 2: Contrerosts was not only so.
9:12
Speaker 1: Adamant he wanted to stay, he willingly took that position
9:15
Speaker 1: change to first base. And I think when you're looking
9:17
Speaker 1: at the Cardinals and what they're trying to do, they
9:19
Speaker 1: still have a pretty solid core. So I know this
9:21
Speaker 1: is not the normal off season for Cardinals fans, and
9:25
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of disappointment and even apathy
9:27
Speaker 1: throughout the fan base right now. And I'm sure that's
9:29
Speaker 1: very hard for you to see, knowing just how much
9:31
Speaker 1: that fan base means to you. But I find the
9:34
Speaker 1: Cardinals a little fascinating, even if their off season is
9:37
Speaker 1: a little slow, on what they could look like come.
9:40
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five.
9:40
Speaker 1: And I want to know, ask you, Trevor, there's so
9:42
Speaker 1: many people to play or to choose from, who is
9:46
Speaker 1: your player next year that you are so excited to watch.
9:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's I mean there's a lot of hope.
9:51
Speaker 4: There's with all thirty teams right now heading into spring training,
9:56
Speaker 4: everybody believes they have a roster that's structured to compete
10:00
Speaker 4: and things will just continue to get better in the future.
10:03
Speaker 4: But I think there's always hope in Saint Louis. It's
10:05
Speaker 4: a strong organization with a great ownership group that has
10:09
Speaker 4: always been committed to winning and putting a great product
10:11
Speaker 4: on the field. And certainly things have changed over the years,
10:16
Speaker 4: especially since my time coming up with Saint Louis and
10:20
Speaker 4: being filling into a clubhouse with guys like Chris Carpenter
10:22
Speaker 4: and Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. A lot of different
10:27
Speaker 4: faces today than there were then, But there are some
10:31
Speaker 4: young guys to be excited about, and guys that really
10:34
Speaker 4: haven't had a lot of opportunity at the major leagues yet,
10:36
Speaker 4: or if any opportunity at all. So there's some guys
10:39
Speaker 4: that are coming up through the minor leagues that I'm
10:41
Speaker 4: excited to see develop. We know the Cardinals are committed
10:45
Speaker 4: to developing players and retooling the system, and we're seeing
10:49
Speaker 4: a lot of change even from the top down with
10:52
Speaker 4: moseay Lock stepping down in the future and Bloom coming
10:56
Speaker 4: in and really bringing in a whole new crew of
10:59
Speaker 4: people to execute on this game plan that they have
11:01
Speaker 4: for the future. But you know, this past season, I
11:04
Speaker 4: became a fan of a few players in the infield.
11:08
Speaker 4: Mason win really caught my eye. I think there's a
11:11
Speaker 4: lot to be excited about with Mason Win. There's a
11:15
Speaker 4: lot of upside. I think we've seen the talent, we've
11:18
Speaker 4: seen the capabilities, the power both on defense and on offense,
11:22
Speaker 4: and the speed, and I think, you know, with him,
11:26
Speaker 4: there's there's just a lot of potential and we're gonna
11:29
Speaker 4: be able to see him grow over this the course
11:31
Speaker 4: of this next season. And then you know, in the outfield,
11:34
Speaker 4: there's a kind of like a group of four or
11:36
Speaker 4: five players there that it would be great to have one,
11:40
Speaker 4: maybe two of them really stand out and put together
11:43
Speaker 4: a complete season and stay healthy and stay on the field.
11:47
Speaker 4: So yeah, a lot to look forward to. I don't know, Katie,
11:50
Speaker 4: who am I missing here? Who stands out with you?
11:53
Speaker 1: One thing about me is I'm always, always, always going
11:56
Speaker 1: to be a Jordan Walker advocate. I refuse to believe
11:59
Speaker 1: that this twenty three year old, he's like six foot five,
12:03
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty pound man, the most highly touted
12:07
Speaker 1: Cardinals draft prospect in recent history, will not succeed in
12:12
Speaker 1: the major leagues.
12:13
Speaker 2: I just refuse to believe it.
12:14
Speaker 1: And I've said this many times and saying that the
12:18
Speaker 1: organization gets tired of hearing from me a lot. I
12:21
Speaker 1: don't ever think the Cardinals put Jordan Walker in a
12:24
Speaker 1: true position to succeed. And think about it. He came
12:27
Speaker 1: up through the system as a third baseman, and right
12:30
Speaker 1: around then the Cardinals traded for Nolan Arnado, which nobody
12:34
Speaker 1: knew if he was going to opt in. He had
12:35
Speaker 1: two opt out clauses after twenty twenty one and twenty
12:37
Speaker 1: twenty two, So it makes sense to keep a Jordan
12:41
Speaker 1: Walker there at third I get that. But once Aronado said, hey,
12:45
Speaker 1: I'm in here for the long haul, Jordan Walker should
12:48
Speaker 1: have been pivoted off the third base and he wasn't,
12:50
Speaker 1: and we know how this went. He switched to the outfield.
12:53
Speaker 1: He played the outfield in Double A for about two months,
12:56
Speaker 1: and then come next spring, absolutely deserved the opportunity he was.
13:00
Speaker 1: He had a fantastic spring. All of a sudden, he's
13:03
Speaker 1: the Cardinals opening day right fielder, and he's learning to adjust,
13:07
Speaker 1: not just the jump from Double A to the majors,
13:10
Speaker 1: which is insane, he's learning a brand new position at
13:13
Speaker 1: the major league level. And you can speak to this.
13:16
Speaker 1: There's a huge gap from Triple A to the majors.
13:18
Speaker 1: I can't even fathom what the gap would be from
13:21
Speaker 1: Double A to the majors. Plus you're learning a new
13:23
Speaker 1: position and you're adjusting to Major League kidding, and I
13:26
Speaker 1: just think he was never really put in the thousand
13:29
Speaker 1: percent position to succeed, and some of it is on
13:31
Speaker 1: the player to develop and adapt. But going back, I
13:35
Speaker 1: think if the Cardinals had a redo button, they would
13:37
Speaker 1: redo a lot about Jordan Walker. I'm excited to see
13:40
Speaker 1: what he is going to look like and perform.
13:43
Speaker 2: Without the expectation or the weight.
13:46
Speaker 1: Right when you're a young player and you're playing for
13:48
Speaker 1: a team like the Cardinals that consistently go out and win,
13:51
Speaker 1: and you have this insane pressure to win and perform
13:54
Speaker 1: for your city every single day. If you start slumping,
13:56
Speaker 1: you're thinking, oh no, I'm not producing. I'm getting sent
14:00
Speaker 1: down to the minors. I have to press right now.
14:03
Speaker 1: And we talk, you know, athletes all the time. You
14:05
Speaker 1: can't press, but it's natural. So I'm interesting to see
14:08
Speaker 1: what Jordan Walker does. Knowing that he is going to
14:10
Speaker 1: get this full season runway, They're not going to be
14:12
Speaker 1: sending him down if he struggles in the majors at
14:15
Speaker 1: any point he's going to have the opportunity to struggle
14:17
Speaker 1: through it. I wonder what that would do for his confidence,
14:19
Speaker 1: because the first two years, I don't think much has
14:22
Speaker 1: gone right in terms of his confidence.
14:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
14:24
Speaker 4: I mean, there's really two situations that for a player
14:29
Speaker 4: to make an adjustment to the major league level. It's
14:31
Speaker 4: either you get thrust right into the action, you get
14:34
Speaker 4: the opportunity like Jordan Walker did, and you shine bright
14:37
Speaker 4: and things just go perfectly and it's a seamless transition.
14:41
Speaker 4: Or on the other hand, you come up as a
14:44
Speaker 4: player and you get little opportunities here and there. Maybe
14:49
Speaker 4: there's a veteran player that you're splitting time with, maybe
14:52
Speaker 4: there's a strong group of guys that you're getting acclimated into, and.
14:58
Speaker 3: The transition is more slow.
15:00
Speaker 4: And to your point it, I think there's, you know,
15:02
Speaker 4: always hindsight, the benefit of hindsight of looking backwards and
15:06
Speaker 4: maybe doing things a little bit different, specifically with Jordan,
15:08
Speaker 4: but a lot of the times too, that getting a
15:11
Speaker 4: taste of reality can be really good for a player,
15:14
Speaker 4: and we're going to find that out. I think Jordan
15:17
Speaker 4: will be very much more comfortable this year coming into
15:19
Speaker 4: spring training than he has been in the past and
15:21
Speaker 4: knowing what the landscape looks like in front of him,
15:23
Speaker 4: knowing the opportunities that are going to be made available,
15:26
Speaker 4: and and you know the other thing is too as
15:28
Speaker 4: a player, specifically in a position like a like a
15:32
Speaker 4: hit with a hitter and knowing the failure rate, to
15:35
Speaker 4: know that there's an added level of support from the
15:38
Speaker 4: organization that you know they believe in you and they're
15:40
Speaker 4: going to put you in the best possible situation to
15:43
Speaker 4: succeed going into a season. So, yeah, a lot, a
15:47
Speaker 4: lot to look forward to, especially kind of early in
15:50
Speaker 4: camp to see.
15:51
Speaker 3: What a guy like Jordan Walker shows up and ready
15:53
Speaker 3: to go.
15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:55
Speaker 1: I think another guy right along those lines is Nolan Gorman.
15:58
Speaker 1: I mean, he struggled last year pretty heavily, had a
16:01
Speaker 1: strike out rate of almost forty percent.
16:02
Speaker 2: It just wasn't feasible.
16:04
Speaker 1: But when you look at Nolan Gorman's power profile from
16:06
Speaker 1: the left side, that's such a unique talent to have,
16:09
Speaker 1: especially as an infielder, and I think he would benefit
16:12
Speaker 1: from that same kind of mentality as Jordan as in, Hey,
16:15
Speaker 1: we're going to give you six hundred plate appearances this
16:17
Speaker 1: year no matter what, and you're going to figure out
16:20
Speaker 1: how to hit at the major league level, and we're
16:21
Speaker 1: not going to send you down to Memphis. When the
16:23
Speaker 1: Cardinals did that in late our middle of August last year,
16:26
Speaker 1: when they sent Gorman down, they had to. They were
16:28
Speaker 1: trying to stay alive and their and their playoff chances,
16:31
Speaker 1: and they were, you know, at this point, almost like
16:33
Speaker 1: grasping or grasping for straws in order to stay in
16:36
Speaker 1: the wild card race. So as much as they tried
16:39
Speaker 1: to stay with Gorman, and I applaud them for doing so,
16:41
Speaker 1: they had to send him down in order to just
16:43
Speaker 1: keep their team chances alive this year. And this is
16:46
Speaker 1: going to be the biggest difference between twenty twenty five
16:48
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty four. If a player is struggling, they're
16:51
Speaker 1: going to keep running him out there every day. They're
16:53
Speaker 1: going to give him every chance to figure it out
16:54
Speaker 1: the major league level. It's the only way they're going
16:57
Speaker 1: to be able to figure out what they have when
16:59
Speaker 1: heim Blum takes over in twenty twenty six and ideally
17:02
Speaker 1: the next homegrown Cardinals era. You know, when the Cardinals
17:06
Speaker 1: were really, really at the top of their game, that's
17:08
Speaker 1: what they were doing, can take place the only way
17:10
Speaker 1: you're going to know what kind of players you have
17:12
Speaker 1: to build around is by letting them play every day.
17:14
Speaker 1: So you need to see Jordan Walker every day and
17:16
Speaker 1: Nolan Gorman and Lars Newbar. You know, if he can
17:19
Speaker 1: stay healthy, what is he I think if you're looking
17:21
Speaker 1: at the Cardinals right now in terms of how you're
17:24
Speaker 1: planning your twenty twenty six team, the only two players
17:27
Speaker 1: you can one hundred percent count in to play every
17:29
Speaker 1: day Mason Winn and Brennan Donovan. So I understand it's
17:33
Speaker 1: not easy for fans to come to terms with the
17:36
Speaker 1: fact that the Cardinals are taking a step back. I
17:38
Speaker 1: get it. It's it's very weird to even hear myself
17:41
Speaker 1: say it. But in the bigger picture thing, I do
17:44
Speaker 1: understand what they're doing.
17:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know, I agree, it's it's hard to
17:51
Speaker 4: think of the Saint Louis Cardinals and taking a step back.
17:54
Speaker 4: And you know the era that I came up when
17:56
Speaker 4: the Saint Louis Cardinals we were just coming off of
18:00
Speaker 4: a World Series win. We were a perennial playoff team
18:04
Speaker 4: with some of the top talent in the game.
18:07
Speaker 3: I mentioned Chris Carpenter.
18:08
Speaker 4: You know Chris Carpenter was a guy that wasn't only
18:11
Speaker 4: important to the roster, I mean a cy young, a winner,
18:14
Speaker 4: and I feel like Saint Louis really got him in
18:16
Speaker 4: his prime, but a guy that was a leader in
18:19
Speaker 4: the clubhouse. And we know how important that is to
18:23
Speaker 4: an organization. But for me, it's trying to not look
18:26
Speaker 4: at this year, maybe the next couple of years as
18:29
Speaker 4: necessarily a step back, but just a shift in focus.
18:33
Speaker 4: And you know, talking about the player development side, it
18:36
Speaker 4: is important and maybe you know, I know there's been
18:39
Speaker 4: a lot of criticism and talk about the Cardinals being behind,
18:41
Speaker 4: and that may or may not be the case, but
18:43
Speaker 4: I think it is smart to kind of reprioritize that
18:47
Speaker 4: aspect of the organization because I say that because a
18:51
Speaker 4: lot of other teams have done that, and it's been
18:54
Speaker 4: evident that teams are focusing more resources on the younger
18:58
Speaker 4: players and developing them to get them to the top.
19:00
Speaker 4: And we all know professional sports is ultra competitive and
19:04
Speaker 4: if you're not constantly keeping an eye on the future
19:08
Speaker 4: and and improving.
19:09
Speaker 3: Little things here and there, you will fall behind.
19:12
Speaker 4: And whether or not that's the case in Saint Louis,
19:15
Speaker 4: I'm not sure, but I'm excited for the fact that
19:18
Speaker 4: they have made a commitment to to reprioritize, and I
19:23
Speaker 4: believe that that is a smart investment. I wish there
19:26
Speaker 4: were some things that were more in the short term
19:29
Speaker 4: that could be be executed on to give us a
19:32
Speaker 4: little bit more hope, I guess in the future. But
19:34
Speaker 4: you know, you mentioned there's a strong core of players here.
19:37
Speaker 4: There's some there's definitely some talent at the major league level.
19:39
Speaker 4: There's a good veteran presence on the roster, and it'll
19:43
Speaker 4: be interesting to see how things continue, you know, I
19:46
Speaker 4: think in line with what we're gonna be here talking
19:49
Speaker 4: about here on Cardinal Territory, we have a lot to
19:51
Speaker 4: We're gonna have a lot to talk about week to week.
19:53
Speaker 1: Katie. I'm really just so proud of you because you
19:56
Speaker 1: got the name right. So this is.
19:59
Speaker 2: This is big. Our first two test runs.
20:02
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say who maybe one of us forgot
20:04
Speaker 1: the name, although I just put in the wrong social
20:07
Speaker 1: cues like our social channels. I'm about to pop in
20:10
Speaker 1: I had the wrong name. So set your standards accordingly.
20:13
Speaker 1: This is a work in progress. You can stay up
20:17
Speaker 1: to date with us, so you can follow us on
20:19
Speaker 1: x or Twitter or whatever you want to call it.
20:21
Speaker 1: We are at card Territory. You can also like and
20:24
Speaker 1: subscribe to our page on YouTube. We're going to be
20:28
Speaker 1: doing this about twice a week. Trevor is gonna be
20:30
Speaker 1: with us at least once a week, so that's exciting,
20:32
Speaker 1: and we'll have a rotating kind of co host table,
20:36
Speaker 1: so very fluid. But most importantly, we want to.
20:39
Speaker 2: Know what you want this podcast to be.
20:41
Speaker 1: This is a podcast for the fans, and we're very
20:44
Speaker 1: receptive to what you want to make out of it,
20:46
Speaker 1: so hopefully you will follow along for the ride.
20:48
Speaker 2: Trevor. I think we're gonna have a lot of fun
20:49
Speaker 2: this year.
20:50
Speaker 4: I think we are too, Katie, And yeah, I mean
20:54
Speaker 4: definitely as far as I'm concerned. Set the expectations low.
20:58
Speaker 4: This is my first time being on the media coverage
21:01
Speaker 4: side of the game, and I'm lucky to work with you.
21:04
Speaker 3: Katie.
21:04
Speaker 4: You do, like I mentioned earlier, do a great job,
21:06
Speaker 4: and just through our conversation today, so eloquent, eloquent with
21:11
Speaker 4: your words, and such a great communicator. And I'm sure
21:14
Speaker 4: that's you know what your career is built around. But
21:18
Speaker 4: I'm more along the lines of throwing a baseball hard
21:21
Speaker 4: and striking people out. So I'm looking forward to working
21:26
Speaker 4: with you and developing some new skills. But we both,
21:28
Speaker 4: you know, have a passion for the game and in
21:32
Speaker 4: the Saint Louis Cardinals, so it will be it will
21:34
Speaker 4: be fun to have these conversations.
21:37
Speaker 2: I think so too. And I don't know about eloquent.
21:38
Speaker 1: You should ask Lance LN about my postgame interviews.
21:41
Speaker 2: They weren't good.
21:44
Speaker 4: Well, be a little bit more positive and upheat than
21:47
Speaker 4: our friend Lance. He brings a level of reality or
21:55
Speaker 4: I don't know, he brings a sense of humor.
21:57
Speaker 3: For sure.
21:58
Speaker 2: He brings a level of words you can't say on
22:00
Speaker 2: live TV. And I appreciate that. All right, this is great.
22:04
Speaker 1: Like we said, you can follow us on x at
22:06
Speaker 1: card Territory, like and subscribe to our page on YouTube,
22:09
Speaker 1: follow us wherever you get your favorite podcasts. I'm Katie Wu.
22:12
Speaker 1: He's Trevor Rosenthal. This was the very first episode of
22:15
Speaker 1: a Cardinal Territory. We hope that you will follow along
22:18
Speaker 1: for many more